Mumbai: A total of 11 special economic zones (SEZs) had been sanctioned in Kerala, chief minister V S Achuthanandan informed the state assembly.

These SEZs would enjoy concessions like exemption in local taxes and electricity tax as prescribed by the SEZs Act. Besides, the state would provide them with basic requirements like electricity and water.

However, all labour laws under Industrial Disputes Act would also be applicable to the SEZs, but their enforcement would be entrusted to a development commissioner in each SEZ.

The SEZs for which sanction had been given include: Cochin Port Trust, Vallarpadom (multiproducts), Kinfra, Kakkancherry (food processing), Kinfra, Kazhakkoottam (IT), Technopark, Thiruvananthapuram (IT), Smartcity, Kochi(IT), Sutherland Global Services, Kalamassery (IT),Kinfra, Kochi (electronics) and Unitech Realestate, Kunnathunadu (IT), he said.

Most of these, sanctioned under the SEZs Act 2005, are promoted by public sector facilitators like Kinfra, Technopark and Cochin Port Trust, he told the house.

Kerala industries minister Elamaram Kareem had earlier said that the state government was not opposed to allowing special economic zones (SEZs) without surrendering labour rights.

The government was not opposed to granting SEZ-status in deserving cases if it would help entrepreneurs enjoy certain facilities and concessions, he said at a discussion on the "Industrial Scenario of Kerala" organised here by the Kerala Union of Working Journalists in February.

There was a wrong notion that SEZs operated totally outside state labour laws. The truth was that the mechanism to implement labour laws in SEZs was different to avoid bureaucratic hassles. In the Central Act, there was a provision for appointing a labour commissioner in every SEZ to handle labour issues, he said.

On the issue of tapping Kerala's mineral wealth, he said the government's policy was to retain mining rights in the state sector while allowing private players to set up units for value-addition. The soon-to-be unveiled industrial policy will give a thrust to promotion of industrial parks to tap investment in areas like IT and electronics, garment-making and food processing, Kareem said.